Charisma Carpenter bio
Charisma Carpenter, 32, was born in Las Vegas on July 23, 1970. Her folks couldn’t agree on what to name their daughter. Their inspiration ended up coming from a bottle of Avon perfume. They didn’t like the smell, but loved the name. Charisma has had her share of chiding, because of the name, actually going by Chrissy until the age of nine. The family lived in Vegas until Charisma was thirteen when they moved to San Diego, where she began to take classes at the School of the Creative and Performing Arts in Chula Vista, where she graduating in 1988 with an emphasis in classical dance. After graduating from high school, she spent some time touring Europe. She returned to San Diego, and worked various jobs to support herself through junior college. Those jobs included a waitress, a property manager, a video store clerk, an aerobics instructor, and a San Diego Chargers cheerleader. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles, where she was introduced to a commercial agent while working as a waitress. She started taking acting classes for the first time, and discovered that she loved acting and could actually make a living at it. She appeared in numerous commercials and eventually got a guest spot on “Baywatch.” Aaron Spelling saw her and cast her as mega-bitch Ashley Green in his short-lived series, “Malibu Shores.” Then came the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” audition that sent her career soaring. Though she originally auditioned for the role of Buffy Summers, producers loved her sharp-tongued wit and asked her to read for the role of Cordelia Chase. It was a match. She landed the part and played the slayer’s nemesis for three seasons. Then she took her Cordelia persona to the highly successful spin-off “Angel.” Charisma enjoys ballet, horseback riding, rollerblading, hiking, rock-climbing, and has even been known to skydive from time to time. Charisma currently lives in Los Angeles with her Golden Retriever and she’s settled into a very steady relationship with fellow actor Damian Hardy whom she met at acting class. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Donovan Charles Hardy, at 9:50 PM on March 24, 2003 at Cedar Sinai hospital in Beverly Hills.